I need a pickup to brighten up my guitar!

[kingneptune117]

Hey all,

New to this forum!  Just got a custom Agile 3200 (it's awesome!) but the pickups are not exactly the greatest. 

This guitar is 10-11 pounds of solid mahogany, and it gives off a fairly dark sound.  I notice this especially under heavy distortion.  It just sounds really "boomy" if that makes sense.  Tons of dark tone/bassiness, and not much high end definition. 

I really like my high gain bridge tones to be punchy, bright, crisp, very clear, and to have fairly tight bass resposne(not super tight, but not so loose and boomy).  I also want to retain that bawlsy tone that a les paul gives you.  I could probably provide a sound sample if that helps. 

I know most people will disagree with my music tastes, but i'm heavily into pop punk and stuff that is slightly heavier.  Here's two songs that might help with the genre I like.

Pop punk example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFB8sibwRL4

"slightly heavier" example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVx88gqVYuE

As you can see from my pop punk example, I can't get enough of that bright, punchy, and crisp high gain bridge tone (if it matters, I like to play with a little more gain than he has applied in that video.)

And from the slightly heavier example, I need something that could cover this kind of sound as well. 

Can anyone help me choose a good bridge/ neck combo?  I was almost thinking about sticking something with a ceramic magnet in the bridge (one of my other guitars has a ceramic pickup in the bridge and it gives me that punchy bright sound). 

I want my pickups to be articulate, so that all my notes come through and it doesn't sound like a jumbled mess.  I also want to have good cleans.  Not sure if this is possible.

Thanks everyone, i'm excited to be a part of this forum!

[metale]

The pickup that best gave me a pop-punk tone was a triple ceramic, high output humbucker. So, from the bkp range, I have to sugest the Painkiller, as a set or with a Mississippi Queen on the neck for those cleans (I think the MQ can hang with the PQ in punch).

As a second option for something very different, a Riff Raff with a boost/TS.

[Dave Sloven]

littleredguitars2 is probably the regular poster with the tastes closest to yours.

He has a Rebel Yell set in his Les Paul, which I think might suit you too.  If the neck pickup doesn't sound like your type of thing I'm pretty sure an Emerald neck would work well with the Rebel Yell bridge.

I'm not sure if it could also cover the heavier stuff you mention, but littleredguitars2 might be able to give you some idea on that.

A Painkiller would certainly do the heavier stuff you are interested in, but I'm skeptical regarding its suitability for pop punk. You might want to look at the Juggernaut.  It seems to tick your boxes

[Slartibartfarst42]

Actually, I'd be tempted to look at an Emerald set for this. The bridge is certainly a bright pickup and has enough power to do heavy styles but also is light enough to be versatile.

[Dave Sloven]

Actually, I'd be tempted to look at an Emerald set for this. The bridge is certainly a bright pickup and has enough power to do heavy styles but also is light enough to be versatile.

I was wondering about that but I thought the bridge pickup might not manage those heavier tones.

[witeter]

From the pickups i have played, i think the Painkiller would suit it well

[Slartibartfarst42]

Actually, I'd be tempted to look at an Emerald set for this. The bridge is certainly a bright pickup and has enough power to do heavy styles but also is light enough to be versatile.

I was wondering about that but I thought the bridge pickup might not manage those heavier tones.

The reference to heavier tones does suggest something hotter but as it's 'pop punk' I thought that many pickups in the contemporary range would be too 'Metal' and something a little more vintage and 'open' would work better. The Emerald bridge, as well as being bright, is a VERY articulate pickup with plenty tightness so it will take loads of gain without mushing up. It's also quite a hot pickup in its own right. Certainly more 'hot' than 'vintage'.

[gwEm]

I have a Rebel Yell in my Agile Les Paul. It sounds so good, and very close to your first clip.

[Kiichi]

Actually, I'd be tempted to look at an Emerald set for this. The bridge is certainly a bright pickup and has enough power to do heavy styles but also is light enough to be versatile.

I was wondering about that but I thought the bridge pickup might not manage those heavier tones.

Actually the Emerald can go very, very heavy. If memory does not betray me Nolly is a big fan of it and has recommended it a lot for modern metal, dropped and on 7&8 strings. Since it is on the bright and tight side you can have your amp take it heavy as heck and not mush or anything. The open brightness really gives a great flavour. The Emerald and RY are usually the choices to brighten up a LP and give life to any big chunk of wood.

So here actually both RY and EM bridge could work wonderfully and deliver.

[Telerocker]

Rebel Yell is certainly close.

[kingneptune117]

Hey guys, thanks for the responses!

I was considering a set of rebel yells, but i'm worried they won't handle anything higher gain than some pop punk.  I really want a set of pickups that will do it all pretty well, from cleans to as heavy as that breaking benjamin sound goes (but I want most of the quality to be with the high gain applications, as long as it has decent cleans that will be fine)

I was considering a set of ceramic nailbombs or a set of cold sweats.  How would these do?

Also, I was thinking about the painkillers, but from the graph those really emphasize mids (not sure that is what I want). 

Is a rebel yell a pickup that can't really handle lots of gain?

The main point of this though is to get more of a crunchy sound out of my pickups, especially the bridge.  I want it to be brighter, crunchier, and to have a tighter bass response. 

[Dave Sloven]

Hey guys, thanks for the responses!

I was considering a set of rebel yells, but i'm worried they won't handle anything higher gain than some pop punk.  I really want a set of pickups that will do it all pretty well, from cleans to as heavy as that breaking benjamin sound goes (but I want most of the quality to be with the high gain applications, as long as it has decent cleans that will be fine)

I was considering a set of ceramic nailbombs or a set of cold sweats.  How would these do?

Also, I was thinking about the painkillers, but from the graph those really emphasize mids (not sure that is what I want). 

Is a rebel yell a pickup that can't really handle lots of gain?

The main point of this though is to get more of a crunchy sound out of my pickups, especially the bridge.  I want it to be brighter, crunchier, and to have a tighter bass response.

The Rebel Yell does all of these things, it just doesn't have as much bass as some other BKPs like the Nailbomb or Cold Sweat.  Having owned both of the latter I tend to the think the RY might suit *you* better.  What the Rebel Yell works really well with is a guitar that already has a lot of bass and can tend to be too dark, like an Explorer, Flying V, or many Les Pauls. It sounds like your guitar might be similar.  If that is the case the guitar will provide plenty of bass on its own; adding a scoopy pickup like a Cold Sweat or C-Bomb may not address your issue.  I tend to think you need upper-mids, and a tightening up of the bottom end, which is what the Rebel Yell does.

For the neck I would recommend either the matching neck (if you are a shredder) or maybe the Emerald (if your lead style is more blues-based).  Both will give nice cleans, and both should work well with the RY bridge

[kingneptune117]

Hey guys, thanks for the responses!

I was considering a set of rebel yells, but i'm worried they won't handle anything higher gain than some pop punk.  I really want a set of pickups that will do it all pretty well, from cleans to as heavy as that breaking benjamin sound goes (but I want most of the quality to be with the high gain applications, as long as it has decent cleans that will be fine)

I was considering a set of ceramic nailbombs or a set of cold sweats.  How would these do?

Also, I was thinking about the painkillers, but from the graph those really emphasize mids (not sure that is what I want). 

Is a rebel yell a pickup that can't really handle lots of gain?

The main point of this though is to get more of a crunchy sound out of my pickups, especially the bridge.  I want it to be brighter, crunchier, and to have a tighter bass response.

The Rebel Yell does all of these things, it just doesn't have as much bass as some other BKPs like the Nailbomb or Cold Sweat.  Having owned both of the latter I tend to the think the RY might suit *you* better.  What the Rebel Yell works really well with is a guitar that already has a lot of bass and can tend to be too dark, like an Explorer, Flying V, or many Les Pauls. It sounds like your guitar might be similar.  If that is the case the guitar will provide plenty of bass on its own; adding a scoopy pickup like a Cold Sweat or C-Bomb may not address your issue.  I tend to think you need upper-mids, and a tightening up of the bottom end, which is what the Rebel Yell does.

For the neck I would recommend either the matching neck (if you are a shredder) or maybe the Emerald (if your lead style is more blues-based).  Both will give nice cleans, and both should work well with the RY bridge

Thanks for the response!  So you think the rebel yell can handle heavier gain while also tightening up the bass response?  Have you ever played one of these in the bridge in a les paul?

[kingneptune117]

Not gonna lie, these RY's are sounding more and more enticing. 

Just listened to this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qum0jkf-bZc

At around 0:55 he starts his "wanted dead or alive" solo and man I can just hear that crunchy, bright tone i'm looking for in some of the power chords he throws down...

Would they be able to handle something like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1Gjwcx-MHU
Wait about 10 seconds for the song to pick up, it gets fairly heavy.  If these pups can handle a tone like this, then i'd be happy.

And also, I need something that can handle tones as clean as this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ynSJsOxXZk

I feel like the rebel yell is a good option since I feel like it can cover a broad range.  Is this true?

[kingneptune117]

So I just found this thread

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=27001.0

Not sure what to think.  Everyone over in that thread says Nailbombs, and those bands he has in the title of the thread are extremely similar to what I listen to.  I'm actually a huge mayday parade fan. 

Not sure what to go for :/  One thing is that his guitar is a les paul standard, which is a lighter guitar than mine due to chambering.  Maybe his guitar isnt as dark sounding.